Check the httpd.conf file (the Apache config file )
If you see a line
AllowOverride None
then no directives in .htaccess files are honored..
you could change it to
AllowOverride All
to allow all directives in .htaccess
See
http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/mod/core.html#allowoverride
but.. since you do have access to the httpd.conf file, you can put the directives there,
instead , and keep .htaccess files ignored.
<VirtualHost>
ServerName
www.mysite.com
DocumentRoot /var/www/html/username
<Directory /var/www/html/username>
- - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
- - - - - - -
</Directory>
<Files directory>
ForceType application/x-httpd-php
</Files>
</VirtualHost>
Note apache needs to be restarted for changes to httpd.conf to take effect..
how to restart it depends, I'm old and school command liner..
server httpd restart
or you can determine the parent proccess ID (PID) like ..
ps -aux |grep httpd
that should spit out the PIDs Apache is using, normally the lowest number is the process that needs restarting.. sticking to the caveman approach, hit it with a club
kill -HUP XXXX where XXXX is the lowest PID you found
For info on further Apache tweaks see ...
http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/howto/htaccess.html